Tottenham vs. Newcastle: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Newcastle picked up their second win of the Premier League season on Sunday, as they came from behind to beat Tottenham, 2-1.
In a match that lived up to the cliche "a game of two halves," Mauricio Pochettino's side dominated the first half and deservedly led at the break, 1-0, thanks to Emmanuel Adebayor's header, although their lead should perhaps have been even greater.
But Newcastle found a few extra gears in the second half, roaring back to victory thanks to goals from substitute Sammy Ameobi and Ayoze Perez as Spurs struggled to summon any sort of similar response.
Here are some winners and losers from a surprise result at White Hart Lane.
Winner: Alan Pardew
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Give credit where credit is due: This would have been a satisfying win for any manager. After an abject first 45 minutes from his team, Alan Pardew made two changes, and both substitutes made a decisive impact as Newcastle turned the game around.
Pardew can take only a nominal amount of credit for the equaliser, a somewhat fortunate goal that saw Ameobi run beyond the napping Spurs defence to beat Hugo Lloris just seconds after entering the fray. But the second was more conventional, with the other substitute, Remy Cabella, picking out a quality cross for Perez—who was handed his first league start for the Magpies by Pardew—to head home at the far post.
After that, Newcastle showed their discipline and organisation to hold on to their advantage, qualities that were also in evidence even as they were taking a battering from the home side in the first half. They still need to work on their attacking threat in the mid-term but, considering the injuries they had for this one, those struggles can be forgiven on this occasion.
After appearing to be on the verge of the sack, Pardew has now seen his side win its last two games. There is still plenty of work to be done, but the critics will acknowledge this was an impressive result, even if it was a fortuitous one.
Afterwards, Pardew told reporters (per Lee Ryder the Evening Chronicle):
"We find ourselves out of the relegation zone. It is a massive relief. The spotlight was on us. It is massive for our staff.
You have to be realistic. You have to lean on the positives. Our fans were terrific, they didn’t stop singing the whole game. It was great to see.
Winning against Leicester helped. That’s what we are paid to do, I’ve not hidden from the criticism.
I’m going to smile. It was a big, big win for us.
"
Loser: Eric Dier
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Eric Dier learned a valuable lesson on Sunday, as he had a difficult afternoon that proved costly for his team.
Dier was guilty of switching off in the opening seconds of the second half, a lapse in concentration that allowed Ameobi to run in behind him and equalise almost directly from the kick-off. After Spurs had controlled the first half with such ease, it was an individual mistake that threw away all that good momentum.
Newcastle's second goal also came down Dier's flank, as Cabella found space to pick out Perez for what would prove to be the game's winner.
In general, Dier—who started the season so memorably, with goals in each of his first two games—looked tentative and lumbering for much of the match, with his confidence clearly knocked by the mistake that allowed Ameobi to score. He will learn not to switch off like that again in future games, although his manager, Pochettino, may nevertheless wonder if it is time to give his prodigiously talented young defender a bit of a rest from first-team action.
Dier has been linked with a full England call-up since the start of the season, but on the evidence of this game it is Danny Rose, not he, who is the Spurs full-back closest to international recognition. That is not necessarily based on talent (although Rose was more effective going in both directions on Sunday) but more because Rose is better mentally attuned to what is required at this level week in and week out.
That will come in time for Dier, too. On Sunday, however, he cost his team.
Winner: Ayoze Perez
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On his first Premier League start for Newcastle, it was the young Spanish striker Perez who grabbed the winner as his side claimed a crucial three points.
It appeared to be a particularly thankless task for the 21-year-old, whom Pardew had almost no choice but to play after Papiss Cisse failed a late fitness test. And for most of the first half, Perez was a peripheral presence, forced to chase long balls and lost causes to try to create any opportunities.
In that regard he did a decent job, earning his side a couple of corners and creating the odd half-decent opportunity for team-mates. So it felt right that the Spaniard would get one glorious chance in the second half, Cabella's cross allowing him to get a real reward for all his hard work.
Perez is clearly not ready to start every week and perhaps does not suit Newcastle's current style of play. But Newcastle bought him in the summer because he showed last season at Tenerife that he has an eye for goal, and he demonstrated that quality once again at White Hart Lane.
He will need further to adjust fully to the pace and physicality of the Premier League, but that goal will give him the confidence to persevere with that challenge—and remind him that he will get the rewards in the end.
“Perez is a goalscorer," Pardew added (via Ryder). "He grew an inch where others wouldn’t.”
Loser: Mauricio Pochettino
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It is easy, lazy even, to simply brand a manager a "loser" after every defeat and a "winner" after every successful three points. Spurs were undoubtedly unlucky on Sunday, but they were also victims of their own mistakes, and Pochettino contributed to a few of them.
Pochettino could do little about the fact his team failed to make hay while they had the upper hand, and they should have gone into the break with more than just a 1-0 advantage. He doubtless underlined to his players during the break the importance of keeping their concentration levels up, something they singularly ignored as soon as the whistle went again.
But after that, and after Spurs went behind, the Argentine seemed either unwilling or unable to change the flow of the game with substitutions. His first change, Harry Kane for Etienne Capoue, had little effect, arguably even reducing the control of the game Spurs had enjoyed in midfield. Then he waited too late to replace the ineffective Erik Lamela, with Aaron Lennon given barely 15 minutes to make an impact.
Newcastle defended well, but they were not posed many new questions in the closing stages. Spurs were predictable and tired, something Pochettino has to take a certain amount of blame for. With Pardew's substitutions paying off so handsomely, Pochettino looked all the worse by comparison.
More generally, the defeat leaves Spurs with just 11 points from their opening nine games, an inferior record to the one Andre Villas-Boas enjoyed at the start of last season. Despite that the Portuguese was out of a job by the middle of December, Pochettino will surely be given more time than that to prove his ability to guide this Spurs team to greater success. But the pressure to improve (and quickly) will only have grown after this loss.
Winner: Ryan Mason
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While there were few positives to take from this game from a Spurs point of view (it is almost worse to lose a game you dominated for such large parts), those bright spots should not be overlooked completely. Ryan Mason was one of them, the young midfielder looking composed and inventive at the heart of the Spurs midfield.
Like Tim Sherwood and Nabil Bentaleb, Mason appears to be something of a pet project for Pochettino, and he repaid his manager's faith with an assured, influential display, especially in the first half when Spurs were at the most dangerous.
Indeed, Spurs' goal was in large part down to Mason's vision, the midfielder's clever chipped cross (when he could have been forgiven for just shooting) creating a near-unmissable opportunity for the striker. It was an insightful, mature play and a good sign for the future.
Mason, like Dier, clearly still has much to learn and perhaps cannot be expected to start week in and week out for Spurs at this stage in his career. Still, with the all-round attributes he showed on Sunday, he indicated he has a future somewhere within the Spurs ranks.
Loser: Erik Lamela
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After another eye-catching cameo in the Europa League in midweek, Lamela returned to the more physical, disciplined confines of the Premier League and once again failed to sparkle.
This continues to be a problem for Spurs, who need the Argentine to be more influential on afternoons like this one when Christian Eriksen is not at his best and the opposition's defence is well-structured.
Lamela's ability to score "rabona" goals is all well and good, but it is making an impact on league games with more conventional techniques that he needs to learn to do much, much better. Arguably, he should have been substituted long before he finally was—Pochettino must be wondering if it is time to stop showing so much faith in his compatriot.
